History of the Johnstones, 1191-1909, with ... - Electric Scotland

272 JOHNSTONES OF WESTERHALL
Williams, Dixon, Sheppard, Grafton, Wilding, Walker, and Vale. On Nov. 21,
1803, they were inspected on their Parade ground, where Broad Street now
stands. Drs Edward and John Johnstone, Thomas Smith, John Carmichael,
Robert Bree, George Edward Male, Francis Rogers, and William Gilby offered
to attend all Volunteers gratuitously, and published a letter with advice how
to preserve their health and efficiency. The necessity of temperance, personal
cleanliness, regular hours, and active sports could not be more strongly advo-
cated at the present day.
Besides subscribing three guineas each for the Volunteers, for whom large
sums were raised in a month, all the ladies in the neighbourhood made flannel
clothing for the troops. Lady Dartmouth provided 120 garments, others alto-
gether 5000 9000 canal boat and coach owners offered their services in case
;
of invasion, which was talked of as so likely that little Catherine Johnstone and
her cousins selected the cupboards and closets they should hide in if Bonaparte
got so far inland.
From T/97 onward, money was raised in Birmingham for the widows and
children of the gallant men who fell at Camperdown, Trafalgar, Waterloo, etc.
It had always been a loyal town, praised for its patriotism by Samuel Johnson
in 1768, when it petitioned the King to tax the American Colonies.
Sir William Pulteney Johnstone succeeded to his brother's baronetcy of
Westerhall 1 in 1794. He was reputed to be the richest commoner in England,
and more than once refused a peerage. He had served in seven successive
Parliaments when he brought in a Bill to abolish bull-baiting, after a visit he
paid to the Edward Johnstones at Ladywood, where the matter was doubtless
discussed, as bulls were regularly baited in the Bull Ring and Gosta Green for
the entertainment of the denizens of the Black Country, who poured into
Birmingham on those occasions.
The Bill was not passed till 1835, being opposed on the ground that it
was a manly, British sport ! Sir William married, a second time, the widow of
Andrew Stuart of Castlemilk in 1804, and died the next year, but lived long
enough to act as godfather to young Edward Johnstone, born at Ladywood,
April 9, 1804.
His daughter, Henrietta Laura, who was created Countess of Bath in 1803,
died in 1808, leaving no heir. Her husband, General Sir James Murray, who
had seen much service in the West Indies, survived her three years. His
conduct of military operations in Sta. Lucia, where Henry Johnstone served
under him, was the subject of an inquiry, to which Sir William alludes as very
uncalled for in a letter to Dr Johnstone in 1795.
The Gentleman's Magazine, in recording Sir William Johnstone Pulteney's
death at Bath House, Piccadilly, June 29, 1805, says: "He had been in a very
dangerous state for several days past, but his immediate decease was the result
of an operation. In private life he was remarked chiefly for his frugal habits,
perhaps the more striking as he was supposed to be the richest commoner in
the kingdom. His funded property amounted to nearly ^2,000,000, and he
1 The late Westerhall only left an illegitimate son, James Murray Johnstone.